Montreal Canadiens: Who Could Make Expanded Play-In Roster?
The Montreal Canadiens will face the Pittsburgh Penguins in a play-in series. Who could be on their expanded roster?
The Montreal Canadiens have not hit the ice since the middle of March, but we could soon see them in action. The team is allowed to go for skates in groups of six or less and it sounds like they will be opening their practice facility in Brossard in the next few days to let the players who are in town get loose.
However, it does sound like there are only a couple of Habs players in Montreal right now, and getting the rest of the roster back, especially those who need to cross the border, could take a while.
The team does have time, as training camps for the upcoming play-in series are scheduled to begin on July 10. That gives them just under four weeks to make their way to Montreal, though if they are required to self-quarantine for two weeks like everyone else who enters Canada, it gives those players less than two weeks to hit the road.
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Anyway, it has been months since we have seen the Habs in action, but before we know it the team will gearing up for their play-in series with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Nothing is really set in stone for how this is going to look, or even where it is going to take place, but one thing that sounds decided is the teams will be allowed to carry extra players on their roster for this event.
Normally teams can only have 23 players on the NHL roster at any time. That would be 21 skaters and two goaltenders. It sounds like teams taking part in this play-in series of games that is tentatively slated to begin on August 1…ish, will be allowed to have 28 skaters and as many goaltenders as they wish.
When we last saw the Habs, they were already a little thin on bodies trying to patch together a 23 man roster. They had traded Ilya Kovalchuk, Marco Scandella, Nate Thompson, Nick Cousins and Matthew Peca leading up to the trade deadline and had Tomas Tatar, Jonathan Drouin and Victor Mete sidelined with injuries.
This resulted in Charles Hudon becoming a top six forward, Dale Weise and Lukas Vejdemo getting pencilled into the lineup and Xavier Ouellet splitting duties with Karl Alzner on the third pairing.
With Tatar, Drouin and Mete fully healed, only Jesperi Kotkaniemi would be unable to play due to injury. So who would be the 28 skaters the Habs would bring with them to training camp?
Forwards:
Tomas Tatar, Phillip Danault and Brendan Galler make up one of the best possession lines in the league so they are locks obviously. So are Jonathan Drouin, Max Domi and Arthur Lehkonen who would be a solid second line. Nick Suzuki, Paul Byron and Joel Armia could provide some scoring depth from the third line. Jake Evans proved himself as a capable NHL player and could be the fourth line centre. That leaves Charles Hudon, Dale Weise, Jordan Weal and Lukas Vejdemo as others who were already on the roster when the league pressed pause. That is 14 forwards right there, but the Canadiens could carry several extras.
What other forwards could join in on the “taxi squad” for the Habs? Ryan Poehling played 27 NHL games this season so he is an easy choice. Laurent Dauphin scored 15 points in 25 games for the Laval Rocket after being acquired for Michael McCarron so he should be on board as well.
With all of the forwards that the Habs traded, things are starting to stretch pretty thin up front. Maybe Joseph Blandisi who scored four points in four Rocket games after being acquired. Alex Belzile played well in Laval but has been out since December when he underwent pectoral surgery. If he is recovered, it could be a nice boost of confidence to have him join the Habs as their 18th forward. Who knows, with all the injuries this team had this season, they might need 18 forwards in the play-in series.
Defence:
The Habs defence wasn’t decimated by trades as much as the forwards, but they also didn’t have as much depth on the back end to start with. The big question mark here is Alexander Romanov’s eligibility. If he is allowed to play, he will definitely be on the ice when the play-in round begins. However, it sounds like he won’t be eligible until the 2020-21 season.
That leaves the Habs with Victor Mete, Ben Chiarot and Brett Kulak as the logical options on the left side as well as Shea Weber and Jeff Petry on the right side. With an expanded roster, they will likely cary ten defenders to give themselves as much depth and options as possible.
Christian Folin was on the ice the last time the Habs played, so he will be in camp, but he may have a hard time keeping his place in the lineup. Cale Fleury and Noah Juulsen are both healthy and ready to compete for NHL ice time and would both give the Habs a better chance of winning than Folin. With Fleury, Folin and Juulsen on the roster, that gives the Habs five right shot defenders, so to best balance things out, their last two spots will probably go to left defenders.
The easiest answer is to give those two spots to Karl Alzner and Xavier Ouellet. However, if the Habs plan on buying out Alzner’s contract, they won’t want to risk him being injured in camp or while skating with the team, so they should give that last slot on the blue line to Otto Leskinen.
Goaltenders:
Apparently, teams are allowed to being as many goaltenders as they want to this training camp. However, three quickly becomes a crowd in a goal crease so bringing more than that wouldn’t make a lot of sense. Obviously Carey Price will be in camp, but the Habs will also bring Charlie Lindgren and should take Cayden Primeau as well. Three goalies isn’t ideal, but they don’t all have to practice every day and when Price wants to rest, they could have Lindgren and Primeau taking shots at practice.
Plus, if the Habs do win the play-in series and are in the middle of an actual playoff series and Price gets hurt, who would you trust more in goal, Lindgren or Primeau? I’d take Primeau for sure.
So, to recap, when the Habs finally announce a roster for their play-in series training camp, expect it to look something like this:
Tatar – Danault – Gallagher
Drouin – Domi – Lehkonen
Byron – Suzuki – Armia
Hudon – Evans – Weal
Vejdemo – Poehling – Weise
Blandisi – Dauphin – Belzile
Chiarot – Weber
Kulak – Petry
Mete – Fleury
Ouellet – Juulsen
Leskinen – Folin
Price
Primeau
Lindgren
It will be an interesting summer for sure, with hockey camps taking place in July and play-in series going on in early August and the Stanley Cup playoffs running through September. Having not seen the Habs play since March, it will be interesting to see which players take off as soon as camp begins and which ones struggle to adjust to the new schedule.
Next. NHL finally has a date for training camps. dark
A large training camp and roster will give them plenty of options and these 28 skaters are the best the Habs currently have after trading away so many players at the trade deadline.